


Carnations, Sunflowers, Gardenias, and Lies

by SideDoor



Category: THE iDOLM@STER
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Falling In Love, Garden Shop, Gay, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-24
Updated: 2018-06-24
Packaged: 2019-05-27 18:08:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,240
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15030341
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SideDoor/pseuds/SideDoor
Summary: Kyoji has been struggling to maintain a stable job; but when he meets a certain worker at his newest job at a flower shop, he certainly hopes he can keep this one.





	1. Carnations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [makkuru](https://archiveofourown.org/users/makkuru/gifts), [frootloops](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frootloops/gifts).



A sigh escaped his lips as his backpack slipped down his arm. The weather was sweltering, and the map he had pulled up on his phone was directing him in circles. He rolled his shoulder, pulling the bag back up just as a voice caught his attention.

"Are you lost?"

Dragging his eyes from the screen, he was greeted by a man in a gardening apron, one hand occupied with a water hose and the other by the faucet, set on turning it off.

"I'm looking for the Kagari Flower Shop."

The other man clasped his fingers together, hose trapped between his palms; and suddenly a smile blossomed on his face. "Ah, how wonderful! You must be the new employee!"

When he was met with furrowed brows and silence, the man set down the hose atop the water facet and continued. "You're Kyoji Takajo, correct?"

"Yes, but -"

"Then let me be the first to welcome you to the Kagari Flower Shop! The owner isn't here much due to her health, so I do most everything here. Oh!" His expression suddenly jolted, from one of general pleasantries to concerned surprise. "I am Minori Watanabe. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Minori extended his hand, and Kyoji accepted the greeting. "It is nice to meet you, as well."

"Well, Kyoji, let me show you around. You'll be working the cash register," Minori began, dropping his hand and pulling at the door handle. A bell chimed at their entrance, and he held the door as Kyoji walked through. "But if a customer needs help, you'll be expected to know a general idea of the store layout - although it certainly isn't that complicated. The store isn't terribly large, but we have quite a diverse stock of flowers. Just point the customers in a general location before someone else can help them."

Minori guided him towards the front counter. A cash register sat atop a curved wooden counter, and an array of short potted plants lined the edge of the counter, with a small cactus on top of the register.

"I'm rather familiar with working the register. We can move straight to the other things I need to know, if that is all right with you, Minori-san," Kyoji said, running his fingers across the wooden surface. It was polished nicely and shined in the sunlight, but the register was old and rusted around the metallic keys: all push-buttons and paper price flags that would pop up once the transaction finished.

"Can you really work a register this old?" Minori asked; and his head cocked lightly to the side, uncertain to skip an explanation for the very purpose of their new employee's hiring.

"I've worked one of these older ones before. It's no problem."

It certainly wasn't a lie. He had worked multiple older ones before, some in even worse condition, keys missing and flags that would refuse to pop up. It surely made his job all the more difficult, but he couldn't exactly complain. He had been job hopping for close to four months; and even if he didn't stay in one place for long - and even if he had to work with defunct machinery - a job was a job, and he desperately needed a job. It wasn't that Kyoji was a bad employee; but job shortages had been rampant across town for months; and as the continuous "new guy," he was always the first to be laid off.

Kyoji was pulled from the rut of his mind by Minori, who grabbed for his wrist and guided him away from the front counter and towards the back of the store.

"That's great to hear! Usually I have to cut the tour of the store short because the newbies cannot for the life of them work this old heap of metal."

For a moment, Kyoji was taken aback, although whether from the outrageous array of flowers encroaching upon every inch of wall and shelf space or the warm hand taking him through the store, he wasn't sure.

Minori clearly took his stunned reaction as a result of the former, as he laughed lightly and, upon releasing his grip from Kyoji, gestured to the wall of hanging plants.

"Kagari-san believes that we should have a flower for everyone - for every occasion and every reason." Here, Minori chuckled, eyes squinting in delight as the corners of his mouth turned up. "And I have to say, we have that and then some."

"I've never seen so many flowers in my life..." Kyoji mumbled, and Minori merely let him stare, for clearly his comment was an unintentional declaration of his surprise and not a statement expectant of a response.

Minori turned on his heels, bent on giving the new guy a few moments to bask in the beautiful display (Plus, Minori had to admit, it was nice to have his work admired.), but the noise pulled Kyoji from his gawking.

"Say, Kyoji, what is your favorite flower?" Minori asked. He pulled at the stem of a purple potted flower sitting on the shelf behind them, righting it as best as he could. Later, he mentally noted, he would need to find a stick or some string, or else the flower would permanently be bent towards the soil.

Kyoji, while now an employee of the Kagari Flower Shop, was certainly not an expert on flowers. In fact, he was probably a complete dunce regarding all things flowers. He was set to work the register; Minori had even said he could just direct the customers in the general vicinity of the flowers they wanted, so he had no reason to know the different between a daffodil and a Lilly, let along the language of these weeds.

He turned around, eyes wandering about the numerous flowers set up on the shelf. They landed on a simple red one, plain enough that certainly Minori wouldn't question his choice.

"This red one." Kyoji pointed to the flower, refusing to make eye contact for a slight fear that Minori would be put off by his lack of knowledge.

"Ah, a carnation. But a red one doesn't hold a very positive meaning in the language of flowers."

Kyoji's attention drifted back up to Minori. Perhaps his complete lack of flower knowledge wouldn't be a problem.

"What does it mean?"

Perhaps, actually, Kyoji found himself interested in learning - not that the bright glint that expectantly appeared in Minori's eyes was any incentive.

Most definitely not.

"The different colors of a carnation have different meanings, but the red carnation in particular stands for disappointment and rejection." Minori chuckled, although Kyoji wasn't sure why; but he also found that Minori was quite prone to laughing and smiling, rather excessively, it seemed.

Not that he minded, though.

"I certainly hope you do not find disappointment in your job here, Kyoji."

So he had been laughing about his joke, Kyoji realized.

But it _was_ kind of funny, Kyoji further realized, a light laugh of his own escaping his lips.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You could fact check my accuracy regarding the language or flowers - but be warned you will be spoiled by doing so. :)


	2. Sunflowers

One week following Kyoji's employment, he found himself... excited to attend work. (In other words, certainly not disappointed.) Which was a rather strange turn of events. Most mornings he woke up anxious, anticipating each day to be the day of his termination. It was already distressing to be working such... Ah, well, to put it crudely, such crappy, dead-end jobs.

But he found genuine joy in his work at the garden shop. The store was always full of people; and for such a vibrant flower shop, one could only expect that the customers would be equally as vibrant. It was a massive improvement from the rude customers with whom he often came into contact with his previous jobs.

As he approached the door to the little shop, Kyoji clicked on his phone.

He was a full hour early. The store wouldn't open for another forty five minutes when Minori arrived, who would be just early enough to do a quick run-down of the shop before the early customers - usually regulars who would take time to talk with Minori about the flowers, even if they didn't buy anything - came stepping through the door at 10 am sharp.

A sigh slipped through his lips.

Each morning he was getting here earlier and earlier. Sure, it was great to enjoy his job. It took up six to seven hours of his day, so he could only _hope_ his job was enjoyable. But this was getting ridiculous; _he_ was getting ridiculous.

But it felt nice when Minori walked up at 9:45 with a welcoming smile, pleasantries dripping sweetly from his lips like syrup as he greeted Kyoji.

_"Minori-san, what is your favorite flower?" Kyoji asked._

_The other man pointed to a bright yellow flower situated closer to the floor, seated in a much larger pot._

_"A sunflower. So many people love them, so we run out quite quickly. But I always keep some out front on display - not for sale, of course," Minori answered._

_"What do they symbolize?"_

_There was a bit of hesitancy as Minori plucked for an answer. Undoubtedly he knew what they symbolized, Kyoji rationalized... right?_

_"Adoration."_

Kyoji turned to his left, eyes catching on the sunflowers posted by the shop's sign. Every morning for the past week he had taken note of them, and today was no exception. It was hard not to notice them; they were aptly named, just as bright and lively as the sun itself.

That might not have been the only reason for his particular interest, however.

He glanced to the ground beneath the window, where a green garden hose laid, neatly wrapped and tangle-free. He bent to pick it up, but he peered around, to the left, then the right.

There was nothing to fear. He wasn't doing anything wrong. He just... wanted to water the flowers.

Particularly the sunflowers.

And the fact that they happened to be Minori's favorite had nothing to do with that desire.

Nothing whatsoever.

With new-found resolve (and the blatant lie on repeat in his head), Kyoji turned the hose on.

He watered the white flowers to the right first. Daisies, he recalled. They symbolized purity and innocence. They were rather plain, but they adamantly refused to dirty, retaining their bright whiteness. The next flowers were gladioli, which were characterized by faithfulness and honor. They were thin but such a pretty, delicate pink. He watered a handful more before coming upon the next pink one, this one a bit lighter than the last: peonies. They stood for a happy life, as well as health and prosperity.

Kyoji was steadily making his way to the left, closer to to the sunflowers Minori adored.

A snicker escaped his lips.

Minori did adore sunflowers, which was quite ironic as they symbolized that very sentiment.

He jumped from his daze, suddenly aware that he was drowning the gardenias. They stood for -

Kyoji choked, moving along quickly to the next flower.

Orchids, roses, tulips - they were all excesses, for he could not water one flower without watering the rest. But when he finally reached the sunflowers, he found hesitancy grab hold of his wrists, pointing the water hose into the cement ground.

What if he drowned these? They were Minori's favorites. It didn't particularly matter that the gardenias were a saturated mess, but the sunflowers?

He swallowed thickly, scrounging up a few pieces of resolve from the deepest depths of himself and raising the hose. The first droplets of water began spraying upon the sunflowers when something tapped Kyoji's shoulder.

"Good morning, Kyoji!"

He jumped, feet completely free of the cement pavement.

The hose slithered from his grip, and he fought to regain control. Once the slippery tool was once again secured in his hands, he turned his attention on his fellow employee, who was trying - and failing - to hide his snickering behind a hand.

"Good morning, Minori-san."

"You didn't have to water the flowers, Kyoji. That's my job," he replied, reaching for the hose.

Kyoji was presented with one of Minori's warm smiles, but a small sliver of disappointment dropped into his stomach; he had wasted his time on the other flowers. His nervousness had slowed him down, prevented him from watering the _one_ flower he had truly wanted to.

Something suffocatingly vile grabbed a hold of his heart, and it skipped a beat as Minori began his duties, starting with the sunflowers. A warmth spread through his chest, but the sensation was far from comforting. It was... nauseating.

"It's all right. I enjoyed it."

And he did. It was rewarding, being able to go flower to flower and name them and list off their meanings.

He just... had wanted to water one more.

"Oh, really? If that's the case, just come early again tomorrow. You can start watering out front if you would like."

And slowly, the grip on his heart began releasing.

"Would that be okay?"

"Of course. I'll just tell Kagari-san to change your schedule. You'll be paid for your time."

Minori had moved on from the sunflowers. Some of them Kyoji couldn't name, and some of them he could, although more often then not he was uncertain of their meanings.

"I drowned the gardenias," he blurted.

His face flushed, and he mentally face-palmed.

Minori had just granted him watering privileges, what was he doing admitting something like that?

But Minori merely laughed, reaching around the bundles of flowers to turn off the faucet.

"That's all right, Kyoji. We all make mistakes." He wiped the residual wetness of the hose onto his apron before bending down to the flowers in question. "When I first started, I clipped the bonsai too low and killed a bunch of them."

Minori stared a moment, as if contemplating his next course of action. Kyoji waited expectantly for the story to continue, but that was clearly all Minori planned to share.

"Here, Kyoji," he stated, and then uprooted the gardenias from the soil. He dusted the roots off before handing the still-wet flowers to Kyoji. "I don't know how long they'll last, but you can take them."

"Minori-san, are you sure? I cannot just take flowers from the shop."

"No worries," Minori replied, and his smile was like a paralyzing dart to Kyoji, limbs tensing up and rooting him to the spot. "We usually put our overstock outside. We don't loose any money with the flowers out here."

"I couldn't take them. It's my fault they were messed up," Kyoji reasoned. He pulled his hands to his sides, away from the gardenias.

Minori stalled, and his thoughts were clearly turning, spinning about as his gaze lowered contemplatively back to the flowers in his hand.

And then he perked up, eyes bright and twinkling, just as Kyoji had seen numerous time before over the course of the last week.

"Then I'll take them, Kyoji. Okay?"

Instantly his eyebrows creased together in confusion. "Sure."

"Since they're mine I can do whatever I want with them." Minori leaned over, one knee still planted on the ground as he reached his free hand for one of Kyoji's, upturning his hand and cupping the flowers in his palm. "And I would like you to have them, Kyoji. Think of it as a gift from me, then."

And if his face hadn't been flushed before, it certainly was then.

Minori _knew_ the meaning behind gardenias. Just two days ago he had explained it to Kyoji, so certainly he knew what he was implying by handing them over, as a gift, no less.

They symbolized purity, sweetness, and joy.

Those were all nice sentiments, certainly an acceptable exchange between friends.

But more importantly, and more incriminatingly, gardenias symbolized secret love.


	3. Gardenias

Minori, true to his word, had spoken to Kagari-san about changing Kyoji's schedule; and by the following morning, he was once again standing outside the flower shop at 9 am, set to water the flowers.

Kyoji continued the routine for a month, during which Minori was quite pleased to finally have a fellow employee who seemed to enjoy working at the garden shop.

It was raining the day Minori arrived ten minutes earlier than usual; and despite the inclimate weather, he was surprised to find Kyoji missing from the front of the store. He didn't own a key. Strictly Kagari-san an Minori owned ones, so he certainly hadn't gone inside to avoid the rain. Perhaps he had decided to come in at 10 am, his original time, since nature had taken care of his job for today.

However, Kyoji was still no where to be seen by ten as Minori unlocked the door and rehung the garden hose by the faucet.

By eleven Kyoji was still absent, and Minori found his mood dwindling. He was the sole employee in the shop, and it was... hard to maintain an optimistic mood, even when talking with his regulars, in the otherwise silent store.

By noon he called Kagari-san, only to be told that Kyoji had been fired.

_"He's the newest employee. I needed to cut some people. The shop cannot support so many employees."_

The line had been quiet after that. Something heavy lodged itself in Minori's chest, something akin to a brick hitting water. There had been a great shock at the beginning; but after that, the brick just sunk deeper and deeper, surely irretrievable by this point.

_"Minori-san, I know you enjoyed working with Kyoji-san. If he really wants a job here, I'll reconsider hiring him back. I have his address if you would like to speak with him personally."_

He jumped at the opportunity, perhaps too quickly, for laughter suddenly erupted from the other end of the line. But by seven that night, Minori was walking up a flight of stairs to the third floor of the Taniguchi Apartment Complex, undeterred by the nerves fluttering about his stomach like butterflies.

Kyoji lived in room number 322, Kagari-san had informed him; so when he knocked and was greeted by silence, the brick in his chest had returned, albeit not so heavy, but surely stomping out some of those fluttering wings.

"Hello?" Minori called before rapping his knuckles against the wood once more. "It's Minori."

A beat of silence passed.

And then another.

But then he heard movement from the other side of the door: some feet shuffling against carpet, a chain rattling, and then a handle jiggling.

When the door slid open, Minori was met with what was surely a poor imitator of Kyoji Takajo. His hair was more unruly than usual, and he was still sauntering about in his pajamas - or perhaps he had already changed back into them, despite being no later than 7:30. A few loose papers were clasped in his left hand - Was that already a batch of job applications? - and a pen in the other.

"Minori-san, how can I help you?" Kyoji questioned. His tone was reserved, and he was clearly uncomfortable to have been seen in such a state.

"Ah... May I come in? I don't believe it would be best to have this conversation in the hallway."

Disappointment found a tiny crevice in which it made its home within Minori at the prospect of being denied. They were friends at the very least, and Kyoji was a kind individual at heart; he wouldn't turn Minori away. That was all that Minori could hang onto.

"Sure."

And that was enough to ease Minori's unbridled nerves.

"Thank you."

He slipped past Kyoji, eyes glancing quickly over the apartment.

A two-person couch sat across a television, which was perched atop a low-hanging table. The dining area was devoid of any seating arrangements, aside from a stool at the bar. The only semblance of life in this tiny abode was a pot seated under the window.

"The gardenias are still alive!" Minori exclaimed, feet taking him over to the sill.

Kyoji slid the door shut behind them, a slighted sigh merely leaving his lungs. "Yes, but I'm sure that is not why you are here, Minori-san."

So he was cutting right to the point, Minori noted.

But he turned back towards his... his...

They weren't coworkers anymore, at least for now, but... Kyoji was his friend, at the very least. He had already made that distinction, and he intended to stick with it.

He turned to his friend, a smile gracing his lips. "You're quite right, Kyoji. I spoke with Kagari-san earlier today. She said she would reconsider hiring you."

And he thinks, as the silence stretched on, thinning his hope and accelerating his nerves, maybe he made a mistake. Maybe Kyoji had quit and Kagari-san had merely spared him that pain, and now he had brought it upon himself by actively seeking Kyoji out.

His hands clenched around the bundle of paper and stems, and he was thankful it slipped his mind that he had brought it along because if his hopes were to fall through, then handing it over would have made him look an absolute fool.

"You talked to Kagari-san?"

The question came out in a whisper. Minori mustered his own voice to sound level.

"You weren't at work today. And I don't have your number, so I wanted to know if something had happened to you. We're friends, aren't we?"

And a little thought in the back of his head poked at him, pestering him that he wanted more; but the voice was unfamiliar, a stranger to him prior to a month ago. He tried silencing it, but it was impossible. It was the reason he had a messy arrangement of flowers stuck in his grasp, and it was the reason he had trekked across town to this apartment complex of which he had never even heard before today. He had come with the intent of bringing Kyoji back to the flower shop - because despite the copious array of flowers, Kyoji was by far the brightest aspect of that shop.

"Thank you."

Minori choked on his words because as his eyes traveled up from the carpet, they found Kyoji kneeling, head bowed.

"This was the first job that I've enjoyed in months. I looked forward to coming to work. I looked forward to seeing you, Minori-san." His voice sounded wet and congested, and Kyoji was glad the bow hid his face.

"Kyoji, please don't - get up."

"Minori-san, I cannot accurately express how appreciative I am of this."

"Please stand up." Despite the relief that washed over Minori, he couldn't stave off a few of his own tears. And despite his request, Kyoji remained bowed. "Kyoji..."

With a glance at the crumpled mess in his left hand, he lowered himself to the ground, sitting atop his legs. "Kyoji, these are for you." He cursed his voice, thin and frail and far more emotionally vulnerable than he wished to have on display, but extended the gift.

Kyoji lifted his head to a bouquet of carnations wrapped in thin white mache paper. The paper was crinkled beyond help, and Minori's white-knuckled grip certainly wasn't helping.

But every last carnation was red: his favorite.

Minori had remembered.

"I was quite disappointed to learn you had been fired, Kyoji."

And Kyoji couldn't help the first laugh that escaped his tight lips; and as Minori graced him with one of his warm smiles that lit up his eyes more stunningly than the flowers held out to him, a batch more followed, each one harder to contain than the last.


	4. Lies

That day, Minori had left Kyoji with Kagari-san's phone number; and by the following morning, he was already reset with a job at the Kagari Flower Shop.

_"Kyoji-san, I apologize. One of my managers dealt with the terminations, and the usual course of action is to fire the newest employees first."_

That wasn't the first time he had heard that excuse - but it was the first time he was being reinstated.

_"We would love for you to return working with us. You have been an invaluable addition to our store."_

His first day would be tomorrow, back to his regular schedule - although his extra hour in the morning wouldn't be restored until the following week. And suddenly the soft patter of excitement was back in his chest, and his hold tightened around the bouquet of carnations.

Kyoji should have put them in water; but holding them, running his fingers loosely through the stems and petals, smelling the light scent of soil and dew...

It brought him comfort.

_"The different colors of a carnation have different meanings."_

Minori-san had told him that on his first day of work.

Of course, it would only make sense for Minori to bring him red ones. They were his favorites (or they had become his favorites, at least), and it was a kind gesture.

An exceptionally kind gesture, certainly - but Minori had not elaborated about any of the other colors. Surely that would have been a better choice to discuss, over daises and gladioli and peonies and _gardenias._

A flush still managed to envelope his cheeks when he thought of those white flowers, but he reached for his phone, intent on entertaining his thoughts _away_ from that line of questions.

_"What do carnations mean in the language of flowers?"_

His thumb hit enter on his phone's keyboard as Google worked its question-answering magic. He clicked on the first link to pop up and began reading.

White carnations represented pure love and good luck. He recalled his high school prom a few years prior, with plenty of boys presenting their dates with these flowers. It matched nicely with any dress color, and it symbolized exactly what prom dates would wish to convey to one another.

Pink represented a mother's love, which explained why so many older women bought them at the shop. Striped ones symbolized regret, which also explained why flustered, distraught men bought these the most. Kyoji could only guess what they had done to upset their wives.

Yellow ones symbolized disappointment and rejection, while purple ones...

No, _red_ ones symbolized disappointment and rejection. Minori had explained this to him on day one.

He scrolled down to the red carnations. Maybe yellow and red ones meant the same -

_"Red carnations, often given for anniversaries and confessions, symbolize deep love."_

They did not mean the same thing.

At all.

His face exploded in warmth, so fervently so that he would have found it completely plausible if steam began blowing from his ears.

Had Minori been mistaken?

He was an expert when it came to flowers. Kyoji could have asked him about any flower in that shop, and he would have been able to list off its meaning, the different colors in which it came, what those variants symbolized, what people tended to purchase them, in what season it sold best - so Minori couldn't have been wrong about this.

So... had he lied?

...

That made no sense, though. Minori had no reason to lie.

_"Since they're mine I can do whatever I want with them. And I would like you to have them, Kyoji. Think of it as a gift from me, then."_

Perhaps... there was one reason to lie.

Because the gardenias sitting atop his window sill symbolized...

_"What do gardenias symbolize in the language of flowers?"_

He scrolled through the links that popped up on his phone; and the first one would have sufficed more than sufficiently, but nerves made him hesitate. What would it mean if his Google search provided him the same answer Minori had already given him? He rolled his thumb down, and the screen pulled back up to the top. He clicked on the first link.

_"In the language of flowers, gardenias symbolize secret lo-"_

Yup, steam was definitely shooting out of his ears. Minori had most _definitely_ lied to him, and the conclusion to which Kyoji had come darkened his face ten shades of red because gardenias symbolized _secret love_ , and red carnations symbolized _deep love_ , and Minori was a flower man who _undoubtedly_ knew what he was doing by gifting these flowers to him.

And that was why, the following morning on his way to work, Kyoji stopped by another flower shop. It wasn't... homey like the Kagari Flower Shop but stuffy, like a chain store.

He walked out with a bundle of green mache paper wrapped around the stems of a handful of flowers.

_9:45._

Minori should be outside, watering the flowers.

And he was, humming a light tune under his breath; and the sight of him stripped the air from Kyoji's lungs because _what was he thinking?_

"Ah, Kyoji! You're here early!"

Too late.

"Well, I guess you're late compared to normal, but you're not scheduled in to work until 10 this morning."

And he couldn't back out now; the mess of paper and petals was too large to hide, and Minori's eyes had already glanced down to them at least once.

So Kyoji, with his mouth drier than soil and palms sweatier than the gardeni - _oh, gosh,_ he couldn't think of _those_ flowers right now - than the _white flowers_ he had drowned a month ago, he extended his purchase with both arms towards Minori.

"For you, Minori-san."

And that was the first time Kyoji had seen Minori shocked into silence - but there was still a glint in his eyes, a childish piece of his personality that Kyoji adored.

 _Adored_ , which was fitting, considering the flowers that Kyoji held out were the sunflowers that Minori adored, which in itself was _just_ as fitting, as that was what those bright, yellow flowers symbolized.

"...Kyoji, do you know what sunflowers symbolize?"

"Adoration."

He was _right_ , but Minori began laughing; and initially Kyoji coined the sound as forced, but as Minori began fumbling with the hose in his hand - the only thing Kyoji could manage to look at - it was more likely a tick of nervousness.

"That is true. But that is not all."

He had yet to take the flowers from Kyoji.

"They also symbolize _dedicated love_."

The only sound between them was the water dribbling from the hose onto the cement ground.

"I still wish for you to accept them."

And then Minori's finger was slipping over the opening of the hose, and the water streamed out like a sprinkler, coating the sunflowers and Kyoji.

Minori was jolted from his stupor because despite water dripping from the tips of his hair and the paper wrapping of the bouquet ripping off and sticking to his hands, Kyoji laughed.

"I hope that was not a rejection, Minori-san." The jab felt strange on his tongue considering his reserved nature, but as the recipient of both Minori's gardenias and red carnations, he felt a sliver of confidence.

Kyoji's eyes jumped up from the ground as Minori took a heavy step forward, then another and a third; and then Kyoji's chin was lifted by a wet palm, and he was staring straight into watery chocolate pools that twinkled like he was seventeen after having just confessed to his first high school crush.

And Minori had still not taken the flowers, but that was the farthest thought from Kyouji's mind as Minori tilted his chin up, just barely, and captured his lips with his own.

Every remaining thought left Kyoji's mind, but merely for a moment, because then Minori was talking against his lips, mouth curling into a smile, and all he could focus on was the vibrations numbing his mouth.

"It most certainly was not."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have an extremely limited knowledge of SideM, but I enjoyed writing this. As a side note, here are a few Easter eggs I threw in here:
> 
> 1.) Kyouji's apartment number, 322, is Minori's birthday.
> 
> 2.) "Taniguchi" is a name I pulled from something I read, but the top search on Google reveals a man named "Jiro," so there's a small reference to S.E.M.
> 
> 3.) I spoke about Minori and a high school crush and being 17 because there was some fact I read that he is eternally 17 or something to that extent, lmao.
> 
> I hope you have enjoyed reading. :)


End file.
